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Titanic

Titanic and the TG's

By Robin Adams

Imagine cruising the North Atlantic in all the splendor and luxury of the Titanic when disaster strikes.  After the collision with an iceberg and the realization that the "Unsinkable" ship is going down, what would you look for first in your effort to  survive?  A lifejacket or maybe a book on how to tread water for long periods of time?  What about some mascara and lipstick?  In three cases, this seems to be what happened, well, sort of anyway.

While checking out some of the Titanic web pages  recently, I came across a short story about three men and how they managed to pass well enough to get off of the rapidly sinking liner.   They were more than likely to have been aided in their deception by the confusion and poor lighting at the time of the sinking than by their crossdressing skills.  I would doubt that all these men were transgendered... but one never knows. 

Two of our fledgling Female Impersonators were traveling in steerage but not together.  By the time they would have made it to the deck, most of the  lifeboats would have already been sent on their way.  Daniel Buckley,  saw his hopes of  survival slipping away with the lowering of one of the remaining boats.  He and several other men jumped into one of  these vessels as if was starting it's decent.  A couple of the Titanic's officers witnessed this and ordered the men to disembark.  Buckley tried to hide himself at the bottom of the boat and go unobserved.  He later recounted how a woman, possibly Mrs. John Jacob Astor, draped her shawl over his head and instructed him to stay were he was.  The officers did not seem to notice him and the life boat carrying Buckley and Mrs. Astor was allowed to leave the Titanic. 

The other  crossdressing steerage passenger, Edward Ryan, also saw the time was running out.   Watching one of the very last lifeboats quickly filling with women and children, he had an idea.  Already wearing a long overcoat,  he draped a towel over his head.  His  long coat and impromptu wig helped him "pass" and walk right by one of the Titanic's officers threatening to shoot any man attempting to board.  Unfortunately, by this time, the lifeboat was almost completely lowered, so Ryan and a real female passenger, leaped about thirty feet down to the boat. 

The last passenger's identity was not known.  He was only discovered when the officer in charge of  Lifeboat #14 was transferring his passengers to another boat.  During an inquiry into the sinking, Titanic Fifth Officer Lowe informed the panel that his craft contained only women, except for one man dressed as a woman and that he was not discovered until the last moment.  This unnamed passenger must have done something to tip Officer Lowe off  as to his true identity as Lowe pulled the shawl away from his face.  Angered by the deception, Lowe basically threw this man into the other boat feeling that  "He was not worthy of being handled better".   When questioned as to how this man managed to board his boat in the first place, Lowe stated that the passenger kept a ladies shawl over his head and "I suppose he had skirts". 

So when you see  the James Cameron movie "Titanic", keep on the lookout for a few crossdressed passengers.  I didn't see them when I first saw the film but this will give me an excuse to watch it again.  Also, the darkness of the theater might just give me a chance to try out that cool "Towel as a Wig" trick. 

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